Online advertisers are willing to open their wallets to connect directly with consumers. Behavioral targeting and local search, as well as video and mobile search, are prompting the shift, according
to findings from the "SEMPO Annual State of the Market 2008 Survey" of advertisers and agencies by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).
Nearly
one-third of survey participants have tried locally targeted search ads and think "it works great." About 34% tried locally targeted search and thought "it works okay." More than three out of five
marketers, or 62%, would pay between 1% and 5% to target consumers with local -- up from two in five advertisers last year. And one in five would pay between 6% and 10%, dropping from one-third in
2007.
About 75% of survey respondents said they would pay more for clicks targeted to in-market consumers. On average, advertisers would pay 10% more for demographic and targeting at a specific
time in the day, and 13% more for behavioral search targeting. Two in five advertisers said they are not targeting or retargeting searchers, but plan to in the next 12 months.
Kevin Lee, a
member of the board of director at SEMPO, and Didit chairman and cofounder, said the definition of search marketing has broadened to encompass social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
"Another interesting development has been the retargeting of searches using display media, where you buy banner inventory against people who have completed a search," Lee said. "Although technically
it's a display ad, people consider it a search ad because the targeting behavior is search."
That's good news for search marketing because it provides a stronger foundation for growth. It could
mean larger budgets for search-related campaigns, too. SEMPO had previously reported that the SEM market would reach $26.1 billion in 2013, up from $14.7 billion this year.
Social media will
continue to build market share. More than 40% of advertisers who participated in the survey said they use in-house marketers to promote brand on social media. Of respondents using social media,
Facebook leads. More than four out of five advertisers use Google's social media site to promote their brand.
The online survey from Radar Research was completed by 890 search engine
advertisers and SEM agencies and administered via IntelliSurvey.
